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My Love Dwelt in a Northern Land, Op 18 No 3

Introduction

Elgar’s first published part-song dates from 1890 and marks the beginning of his association with the publishers Novello. It was a cautious and rather inauspicious start from their point of view; they offered no money to the composer, merely a hundred copies in lieu of copyright. When My Love Dwelt in a Northern Land first appeared, it was said to be ‘crude, ill-written for the voice, laid out without knowledge of the capabilities of the human voice &c &c!’, as Elgar told his friend Jaeger many years later. Yet it is a fine song, despite a conventional setting. In the third verse the melody is given to Soprano and Tenor I, while the other parts sing the words to a repetitive, rhythmic motif – an ‘accompaniment’ device Elgar later used in two of his greatest songs, Death on the Hills and Serenade. One might also note in passing that Lang’s poem has the theme – popular in Victorian times and frequently used by Elgar – of youthful love, often unfulfilled and/or brought to an end by premature death.

Recordings

'It's a delightful disc … if there was a 'Critics' Fancy' it would be there sure enough' (Gramophone)'This is a delightfully nostalgic trip through English part-singing from the first half of the 20th century. The programme is deftly chosen and Laudib ...» More

Details

My love dwelt in a northern land. A dim tower in a forest green Was his, and far away the sand And gray wash of the waves were seen The woven forest boughs between:

And through the northern summer night The sunset slowly died away, And herds of strange deer, silver white, Came gleaming through the forest gray, And fled like ghosts before the day.

And oft, that month, we watched the moon Wax great and white o’er wood and lawn, And wane, with waning of the June, Till, like a brand for battle drawn, She fell and flamed in a wild dawn.

I know not if the forest green Still girdles round that castle gray, I know not if the boughs between The white deer vanish ere the day: The grass above my love is green, His heart is colder than the clay.

My love dwelt in a northern land. A dim tower in a forest green Was his, and far away the sand And gray wash of the waves were seen The woven forest boughs between:

And through the northern summer night The sunset slowly died away, And herds of strange deer, silver white, Came gleaming through the forest gray, And fled like ghosts before the day.

And oft, that month, we watched the moon Wax great and white o’er wood and lawn, And wane, with waning of the June, Till, like a brand for battle drawn, She fell and flamed in a wild dawn.

I know not if the forest green Still girdles round that castle gray, I know not if the boughs between The white deer vanish ere the day: The grass above my love is green, His heart is colder than the clay.

My love dwelt in a northern land. A dim tower in a forest green Was his, and far away the sand And gray wash of the waves were seen The woven forest boughs between:

And through the northern summer night The sunset slowly died away, And herds of strange deer, silver white, Came gleaming through the forest gray, And fled like ghosts before the day.

And oft, that month, we watched the moon Wax great and white o’er wood and lawn, And wane, with waning of the June, Till, like a brand for battle drawn, She fell and flamed in a wild dawn.

I know not if the forest green Still girdles round that castle gray, I know not if the boughs between The white deer vanish ere the day: The grass above my love is green, His heart is colder than the clay.

My love dwelt in a northern land. A dim tower in a forest green Was his, and far away the sand And gray wash of the waves were seen The woven forest boughs between:

And through the northern summer night The sunset slowly died away, And herds of strange deer, silver white, Came gleaming through the forest gray, And fled like ghosts before the day.

And oft, that month, we watched the moon Wax great and white o’er wood and lawn, And wane, with waning of the June, Till, like a brand for battle drawn, She fell and flamed in a wild dawn.

I know not if the forest green Still girdles round that castle gray, I know not if the boughs between The white deer vanish ere the day: The grass above my love is green, His heart is colder than the clay.

My love dwelt in a northern land. A dim tower in a forest green Was his, and far away the sand And gray wash of the waves were seen The woven forest boughs between:

And through the northern summer night The sunset slowly died away, And herds of strange deer, silver white, Came gleaming through the forest gray, And fled like ghosts before the day.

And oft, that month, we watched the moon Wax great and white o’er wood and lawn, And wane, with waning of the June, Till, like a brand for battle drawn, She fell and flamed in a wild dawn.

I know not if the forest green Still girdles round that castle gray, I know not if the boughs between The white deer vanish ere the day: The grass above my love is green, His heart is colder than the clay.